Beginning Sunday, March 22, at 8 p.m., US 6 will be closed between US 40 and SH 119 to accommodate planned work on the Peaks to Plains Trail project. The highway will reopen Saturday, March 28 at 5 p.m. This closure limits access to I-70 from Golden; access to Black Hawk and Central City from Golden will remain open.

As always, contact the Public Information Team at or p2ptrail@publicinfoteam.com for more information. You can also check out the project blog at peaks2plains.wordpress.com.

About This WorkThis six-day closure will allow crews to install an underpass for the Clear Creek County section of the trail just east of Tunnel 5. This will enable the trail to safely “cross” US 6 and follow the Creek and join up with the Jefferson County portion of the trail. The underpass is a critical connector for the new, 4-mile trail, and will be 8 feet wide, 10 feet tall and 126 feet long.

Crews will work in two, 12-hour shifts to complete the work on time. In order to complete this work, guardrail, asphalt and bridge slabs will be removed. Then, crews will dig into the ground and set a large, pre-constructed concrete culvert into place. Dirt and other excavated materials will then be “backfilled,” or replaced.

For Your SafetyThe highway will be closed to traffic for the safety of the traveling public. Motorists are encouraged to plan alternate routes to I-70 from Golden in advance of travel. Once again, travel to Black Hawk and Central City will not be impacted.

This construction work will require crews to dig a hole in the ground that is deeper than the deep end of a swimming pool. Heavy equipment and machinery will be needed in order to complete the underpass. There will be no room to safely navigate the traveling public around the work, making it necessary to completely close the road.

All local emergency service providers have been notified of the closure, and signs will be posted to notify local motorists.

In case of inclement weather, backup dates for this work will be Sunday, March 29, at 8 p.m. through Saturday, April 4, at 5 p.m.

The images enclosed depict a map of the construction zone, and what the finished product will look like.

A rendering of the finished product.

A map showing the construction zone.

This information is a public crowdsourcing effort between the Access Fund,
and Mountain Project.You should confirm closures, restrictions, and/or related dates.

Description

P1. Climb Billy, but after the second overlap around mid-way, sneak right to belay at Wild Child's P1 anchors. 11b.

P2. Use the first clip of Wild Child starting P2, then continue the rest of the Billy pitch, but continue up and left, with the first 3 bolts of Gneiss Route up to the Rocketman ledge. 12a.

P3. Climb out the huge Rocketman roof, 8 bolts. There is a brief move of 5.11 around bolt 3, and the crux is pulling over the biggest part of the roof at bolt 7 (5.12c). Belay at airy stance above the roof. 12c.

P4. Cruise past 4 bolts on the Northeast arete to Surette Ledge. 5.7.

Descent: From Surette, rap 55' to the roof lip and 200' to the ground (BIG AIR!).

Protection

12 draws/slings of various lengths. 2 60m ropes for rap.

If linking all of Billy and part of Gneiss Route in one pitch, you will need about 20 draws/slings.

At time of writing, the crux pitch has not gone free. I consider it an open project. Good luck, the crux is stinkin tough -- just let me know how you make that final move over the lip. I gave it another go last week and removed my draws (no, they werent stolen...)

Oh yeah, please leave the sling on the last bolt of the first pitch of Billy, trust me, you will appreciate it...

Big Air is an understatement. 150 feet of dangling 20 feet from the wall! Darren picked the biggest roof on the center of the wall and puched this line right out of it.

The pitch itself is quite fun, but the overall combo of Billy, Gneiss Route, and Rocketman makes for a spectacular outing. You pull out 6 roofs amounting to 20 feet with the toughest for last. A final pitch up off the Surette ledge would be the icing for the hardmen out there.

The crux move is brutal for a non 5.12 climber such as myself, but there is a nice bolt at your chest that a Lucky Pierre can pull right past with a long sling. (I wonder how how I knew that....?) C'est Magnifique! Bonne Chance!

I was able to free this today. It took me a while to figure out the crux moves, but then I got the redpoint first try. That probably means it's about 12c or d. I definitely recommend this climb. Billy and the bit of Gneiss Route give full value on the approach. The exposure on the crux pitch is spectacular. The main holds seem solid, but especially low on the pitch there was a fair amount of crumbling underfoot, which the belayer can avoid but can be bad news if there are climbers below. As it gets more traffic and cleans up, Rocketman will be a three-star climb. Many thanks to Darren and Matt for conceiving of this line, the great bolting job, and for making it an open project.

Warning beta follows: Darren, you asked about the crux moves so here's my beta. After getting the jug at the lip, I moved my hands to good holds on the diagonal above it. I heel-hooked left on the bump and made a long, hard pull to get my left hand on the best of the holds in the crummy horizontal. I switched the left heel to a toe and then brought the right hand up to a little hold in the horizontal for just a second and then moved to the deep hold. After I got my feet up, I reached up and left to a dish with a little hold in it and it was over.